Canada contains almost four percent of the world's coal resources,
exceeded only by the former Soviet Union, the US, the People's Republic
of China and Australia. Canada has at least 80 billion tons of
exploitable coal using today's technology, with about 8 billion tons
classified as commercially feasible under today's conditions.

These reserves equal about 100 years' supply at current production
levels. It holds close to 10 billion tons of coal reserves which
contribute approximately $5 billion to the economy annually. Coal meets
about an eighth of Canada's primary energy needs, mainly as a fuel for
electricity generation. The Canadian steel industry depends on coal for
the production of almost every ton of steel.

The largest coal export markets for Canada are Japan and Korea. While
thermal coal is primarily used for domestic purpose, almost the entire
production of metallurgic coal in Canada is exported. It also imports
coal into central and eastern provinces due to its geographic proximity
to the US, around 80% of which goes to Ontario and is mostly used for
coal-fired generation. The Elk Valley Coal Partnership is the world's
second largest exporter of metallurgic coal, a high grade of coal which
is used as fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in blast
furnaces. Around half of Canada's coal is transported by rail. Coal from
mines in eastern British Columbia and western Alberta travels about 1100
km to west coast ocean ports, or 2300 km to Thunder Bay for shipment by
lake to Ontario or the United States.

Recently, Canada's environment ministry has proposed tougher regulations
for coal-fired power plants, but they do not go far enough to help the
country achieve its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.

The impact of coal mining on the environment is a growing concern for
all the coal producing nations around the world. To address these
concerns, Canada has some of the world's most stringent standards for
mine operations, worker safety and environmental protection. These
standards also help in ensuring that the land used in coal mining can be
returned to other productive uses within a few years of being mined. But
the new regulations will have the most immediate impact on the smaller
coal-fired units (150MW or less) because they tend to be among the
oldest of the 55 facilities in the country, while the larger coal plants
tend to be younger and will not be affected for the next 15-20 years.